Government to announce crackdown on legal migration, Sky News understands

Published

2 years ago

December 4, 2023

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The government will announce a package of measures today aimed at cracking down on record levels of legal migration, Sky News understands.

It is thought Home Secretary James Cleverly will announce the scaling back of health and social care visas and an overhaul of the shortage occupation list in a Commons statement on Monday.

There will also be a change in the minimum salary threshold for skilled worker visas.

It is believed it will be increased from £26,200 to a figure over the £35,000 which Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick had been pushing for.

Rishi Sunak faced a backlash from senior members of his own party after new figures revealed migration is at an all-time high – despite a Conservative 2019 manifesto pledge to bring numbers down.

Revised estimates from the ONS put net migration to the UK in the year to December 2022 at a record-breaking 745,000.

The prime minister has since said the numbers are “too high” and hinted he would take action to address this – but he has stopped short of saying what those measures could look like.

It is understood he came under pressure in particular from Mr Jenrick, who proposed a five-point plan involving a cap on the number of health and social visas and a rise in the minimum salary threshold.

Home Office figures showed 143,990 health and care worker visas were granted in the year ending September 2023, more than double the 61,274 for the year to September 2022.

But any measures to limit these visas would likely prove controversial among health leaders, given the workforce crisis and the growing NHS waiting list.

As well as scaling back these visas, the government could also limit the number of dependants foreign health and social workers could bring to the UK.

According to The Telegraph, which first reported on today’s announcement, there will also be an overhaul of the shortage occupation list – a programme that allows foreign workers to be paid 20% below the going rate in roles that suffer from a shortage of skilled workers.

Sources told the newspaper the list would be “widely scrubbed” with a high bar set for any exceptions.

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Politics

MP Zarah Sultana who was ousted from Labour announces she is starting new political party with Jeremy Corbyn

Published

3 hours ago

July 3, 2025

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MP Zarah Sultana who was ousted from Labour announces she is starting new political party with Jeremy Corbyn

An MP who was ousted from the Labour Party has announced she is setting up a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn.

Independent MP Zarah Sultana said she and the former Labour leader will co-lead the new party, which she did not provide a name for.

She said other independent MPs, campaigners and activists from across the country will join them, but did not name anyone.

Politics latest: Zarah Sultana’s stinging resignation letter

Ms Sultana also said she was “resigning” from the Labour Party after 14 years.

She was suspended as a Labour MP shortly after they came to power last summer for voting against the government maintaining the two-child benefit cap.

Several others from the left of the party, including Mr Corbyn, were also suspended for voting against the government, and also remained as independent MPs.

However, Ms Sultana was still a member of the Labour Party – until now.

Mr Corbyn has previously said the independent MPs who were suspended from Labour would “come together” to provide an “alternative.

The other four are: Iqbal Mohamed, Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain.

Mr Corbyn and the other four independents have not said if they are part of the new party Ms Sultana announced.

In her announcement, Ms Sultana said she would vote to abolish the two-child benefit cap again and also voted against scrapping the winter fuel payment for most pensioners.

Ms Sultana also voted against the government’s welfare bill this week, which was heavily watered down as Sir Keir Starmer tried to prevent a major rebellion from his own MPs.

On Wednesday, Ms Sultana spoke passionately against Palestine Action being proscribed as a terror organisation – but MPs eventually voted for it to be.

She said to proscribe it is “a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth”.

Ms Sultana said they were founding the new party because “Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper – just 50 families now own more wealth than half the UK population”.

She called Reform leader Nigel Farage “a billionaire-backed grifter” leading the polls “because Labour has completely failed to improve people’s lives.

The MP, who has spoken passionately about Gaza, added: “Across the political establishment, from Farage to Starmer, they smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists.

“But the truth is clear: this government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it.

“We are not going to take this anymore.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “In just 12 months, this Labour government has boosted wages, delivered an extra four million NHS appointments, opened 750 free breakfast clubs, secured three trade deals and four interest rate cuts lowering mortgage payments for millions.

“Only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain.”